Manics In Farewell To Cafe Haunt - Wales On Sunday, 1st June 2008

The Manic Street Preachers have paid tribute to a cafe where they penned many of their early hits, which closed its doors last week.

Dorothy Cafe in High Street, Blackwood, has shut up shop after nearly 60 years.

The cafe, which opened just after World War II inside a dry cleaners, had been a favourite haunt for the Oakdale legends since their youth and provided the early inspiration behind tracks like Motorcycle Emptiness and A Design For Life.

The group used to gather near the juke box to write songs.

But staff have hung up their aprons for the last time.

Manics singer James Dean Bradfield said the owners helped the then-struggling band by selling copies of their 1988 debut, Suicide Alley.

The 39-year-old said: "They were really supportive of the band at the start. They sold copies of our single and they never took any commission.

They made us feel like we were members of the Beat Generation."

And nostalgic bassist Nicky Wire, also 39, said: "The best

Dorothy Cafe was opened by Jack and Delfina Lusardi who arrived in Wales from Northern Italyin 1949, then passed to sons Tino and Remo 37 years ago.

The owner simply said of the closure: "We just want to go quietly."

It is understood the cafe will make way for a Nationwide Building Society.